Raise your hand if you've ever "worked from home" only to find yourself distracted by Netflix and the allure of a midday nap. One of the perks of being an entrepreneur is that, until your business expands and you have a larger team, you'll likely have the ability to work remotely and entirely on your own schedule. The downside to this is that if you're not someone who has a great amount of self control, you may find yourself becoming distracted from your business' projects and goals.

Thankfully, Fast Company released an article entitled "7 Best Practice Tips for Successfully Working Remotely" and it is GOLD. The tips are summarized below, but for an in-depth read, we suggest reading the full article.

1. Love What You Do | You started your business because you're passionate about the problem it solves, you like the daily challenges it presents, and you're interested in bringing your passion and goals to fruition. Lucky for you, the more passionate you are about a project, the more likely you are to stay focused and keep your end goal in mind.

2. Reduce Road Blocks | How do you stay most organized? Do you work more efficiently when surrounded by people or when by yourself? For you to do your best work, do you have to be in a clean work environment, or do you prefer to be surrounded by sticky notes? Organizing your work strategy, even down to where you work and how many work breaks you need per hour, helps to keep you on-task.

3. Keep Lines of Communication Open | When you're out of office, do you know exactly what your teammate is working on? Do they know what project you're currently tackling? By keeping lines of communication open, you not only hold yourself accountable, you also make sure you and your team are all staying on the same page.

4. Take a Break | "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Make sure that you take breaks: go for a walk, play a game on your phone for a few minutes (Tetris anyone?), and/or get up and stretch. According to Fast Company, when you include time for play (or your job is incorporates play well), you're more likely to get into your flow later, "a state in which we’re so engrossed in what we’re doing that we lose self-consciousness."

5. Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time | "Managing your energy makes sense because it’s something you can control. Time, on the other hand, is often an elusive frenemy: sometimes on our side, but more often not." Make sure that you keep your energy up by taking breaks (#4), checking-in with yourself, and generally making time for yourself throughout the day.

6. Persevere | Did you know that when we begin a new task or challenge, a natural side effect is mental agony? Sometimes, you've just got to keep pushing through! Set up a reward for yourself, and then buckle down and get to working. It's not always easy to stay focused, but it IS always worth it.

7) Celebrate | If you move from one project to the next without taking time to celebrate, you'll quickly feel burnt out and exhausted. You'd be surprised by just how mood-lifting it feels to take an extra bit of time to celebrate your accomplishments. Make sure that you schedule in a few minutes every day to look back on all that you've accomplished and feel thankful.

Do you work remotely? What are some of your tips for staying motivated?

Imagine More Podcast

This weekly podcast is about the people that IMAGINE MORE and the ripple effect they have on the people around them!

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